This invention relates to a spiral-shaped frame for arranging decorative lights, and more specifically to a collapsible spiral frame for arranging decorative lights in the shape of a Christmas tree.
Artificial Christmas trees are well known. Patents granted on artificial trees include U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,541 to McCrory, U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,867 to Westlund and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 347,598 to Maddox, Jr. McCrory discloses a collapsible artificial tree comprised of circular hoops having a plurality of limbs secured thereto. The Westlund patent discloses a collapsible artificial tree for suspension from a ceiling. The tree is formed by a continuous spring-like conically shaped spiral frame member having an electrical conductor wrapped around the frame. The frame member has a plurality of convolutions adapted to be collapsed into a generally flat spiral configuration for storage purposes. The Maddox, Jr. design patent discloses a spiral-shaped "Bouncing Christmas Tree."
Although there are a number of artificial Christmas trees in the prior art, including spiral-shaped artificial trees, nothing in the prior art discloses a collapsible structure with means for mounting lights thereto so that when the structure is extended to a display position, the lights attached thereto define a conical, or Christmas tree shape. One manner for attempting to create a Christmas tree shape with decorative lights is by hanging individual light strings from a center post and allowing the light strings to drape downwardly over an object having a cone or Christmas tree shape. Individual light strings can also be attached at one end to a structure above the ground and at the opposite end to the ground therebelow wherein the lower end of each light string is spaced from the upper end in an attempt to create a cone or Christmas tree shape. Such methods do not provide a consistent, uniform-looking shape and require a large amount of effort which must be repeated each time it is desired to create the desired shape.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a collapsible frame which may be collapsed into a storage position and which is easily extendable into a conical or Christmas tree shape. It is a further object of the invention to provide a collapsible frame which is very compact for storage.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a collapsible frame that includes a means for mounting and arranging decorative lights so that when the frame is extended to a display position, the lights define a conical, or Christmas tree shape. It is a further object of the invention to provide such a collapsible frame which is attractive when erected and which has lights that can be attached thereto and stored with the frame so that there is no need to remove the lights from season to season. These objects as well as other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent after reading the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.